THE gunman who left 38 dead in the beach massacre was “a normal guy” and unknown to the security services.

Seifeddine Rezgui, a 23-yearold aviation graduate, had never travelled abroad and was not linked with any terror groups.

Scotland Yard detectives are flying out to Tunisia to help investigate the circumstances behind the massacre and find who his puppet masters were. Rezgui came from Gaafour, a town in the Siliana region, and had been a student at University of Kairouan.

His family were said to be “very, very shocked” at his part in the killings.

He had returned home on Thursday and unusually had his beard shaved, locals said.

Jihadists are known to shave their body hair before carrying out suicide attacks.

However, he showed no signs of extremism and was just “a very normal guy”, according to local reports.

Eyewitnesses saw Rezgui on the beach in an inflatable Zodiac boat wearing blue shorts and a black short sleeve top before opening fire with a Kalashnikov.

We’ve deployed a large number of officers out to Tunisia in terms of our own evidence gathering and also we’ve got experts in family liaison assisting

Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard

Islamic State has claimed responsibilty for the attack and identified the gunman by his jihadi pseudonym Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani.

It said the massacre was an attack “upon the nests of fornication, vice and disbelief in God” and warned of “worse to follow”.

Rezgui hurled his phone into the sea and Yard officers will check what data is on it to see if he was a sleeper or had links with IS leaders in Libya or Syria.

At Scotland Yard yesterday, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, national policing lead for counter terrorism, said: “We’ve deployed a large number of officers out to Tunisia in terms of our own evidence gathering and also we’ve got experts in family liaison assisting.”

He urged the public to be “vigilant” and said anyone with information about terrorism, including the attack in Tunisia, should contact police.

Domestic terror arrests rose by almost a third last year to 289 as police and religious leaders tried to halt people joining Islamic extremists in Syria.